


I'm Human

by KatyBee



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Blood and Gore, Drama, Epic Bromance, Family Drama, Gen, Graphic Violence, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Minor Character Death, Minor Spoilers, Mystery, No Slash, Scheming, Shiro is Alive, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:04:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5395199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatyBee/pseuds/KatyBee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whether he knew it or not there was a heavy burden on Rin's back since birth, regardless it didn’t stop him from being the cheerful and playful child he was, that is until he turned eight. It was as if something very crucial shifted. Suddenly “daddy” became “old-man” and the lighthearted way he would call “Yukio~” was suddenly not so lighthearted. Everyone in the monastery figured that Rin was just going through a phase and that he’d grow out of it soon. Unfortunately, that was not the case, seven years later and not much has changed - besides him coming home with an assortment of injuries every few days, already bandaged from time to time, which was very mysterious since god knows Rin cannot care for injuries to save his life.</p><p>*ON HOLD*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unrequited Love

“Whoa!”

“Ah!”

The chains of the fence rattled as a white haired boy thrown is against it from the force of an uppercut from a certain son of satan.

“What is this guy, a demon?!”

“Let’s get out of here!” his frightened friends hurriedly yelled as they helped their injured friend scurry away.

“Who are you calling a demon? You assholes are far more demonic than me!” the adversary said almost to himself as he looked down at his bloodied knuckles. “Oh crap.. I did it again.” he mumbled. “ What the hell am I doing?..” he sighed to himself looking up to a fleeing bird in the sky, as if it would somehow give him the answers he yearned for.

“I believe that is a question only you can answer, but in the meantime you're late for our lesson.” A mischievous voice butted-in. Which then led to Rin jumping a mile high and glaring accusingly to the offender.

“Oh. It’s you.” Rin said distastefully

Holding back a smile the man stepped forward, a hand on the corners of his mouth and whispered “Boo!” Against his will Rin then jumped back.. again.

“I already told you, I had to work today so I couldn’t come.” He growled out, recovering from his near death from fright

“Oh! Hehe, forgot about that..” the man mumbled sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck. “So, how did it go?” he asked cheerfully

“You really need to ask that?” Rin queried, looking at the man as if he was some inarticulate peasant.

Looking the battered boy over the man once again grew sheepish “I guess not, heh.” he chuckled. Turning the around the man started walking knowing the boy would follow, hearing the close footsteps behind him he started. “So what did that poor innocent soul do to deserve your wrath?” the man pried.

Rin scoffed “Trust me he wasn't poor or innocent, and I highly doubt he even _has_ a soul. Anyways he was killing a bunch of doves for sport or what he’d call ‘doing the world a favor and eradicating worthless pests that only swarm, eat, and crap everywhere.’ It was well-deserved wrath.” he said with a scowl, kicking pebbles as he walked.  
The man chuckled and continued on in silence until he reached a screened sewer entrance marked with blue spray paint. Lifting the screen he turned to Rin “After you.” he said with a passive face. To which Rin jumped in without a word, waiting a few moments the man followed, pulling the screen shut as gravity took him down. Landing without a hitch he turned to Rin “follow me, I’ll clean your wounds.” he said gently and striding down the long bleak hallway,

“That isn’t necessary they’ll heal on their own, you know that.” Rin told him

“They won’t heal as fast if they’re not properly treated, _you know that._ ” the man said mockingly with a sly smirk, to which was met with only a grunt. Snickering to himself they reached the end of the hallway leading to a single door, taking out a worn black key the man unlocked and opened the door walking through he heard the soft shut once they were in. With the flick of a lightswitch a large training room, almost the size of a football field was illuminated in front of the two. For the most part bare, apart from a few crates containing wooden swords, candles, some very questionable items, and a small table in the corner.

Not dwelling on the appearance of the room, because god knows how many times he’s been here before, Rin silently followed the man to a small storage room in the back.

Searching through the shelves, with a small “Ah ha!” the man pulled out a small first aid kit. “Here, sit down.” He said looking pointedly at a stool in the corner. Compiling Rin sat with a grunt, the tension leaving his body as the man carefully cleaned and bandaged his injuries. Placing a final bandage around the boy’s finger he shut the box and dramatically collapsed onto the floor. “Whew! You work me too hard kid, and with no respect in return! I feel so abused..” he said pouting childishly.

“I don’t see how I’m suppose to respect you when you do things like this, but thanks, I appreciate it I guess.” Rin said with a small smile.

“Awee! Rin! I never knew how much you loved me! I mean of course, I've figured you were holding onto some sort of unrequited love for me these past few years, how could you not, but I never realized it was this intense.” the babbling man said with a hand held to his heart, then going further and attacking the boy in a tight hug, only to be shoved off by the annoyed former.

“Tch. I’m going home, I'm already late for dinner, I don’t have time to deal with you in one of these annoying moods, babbling nonsense.” Rin said, already turning and walking out of the small storage room.

“Wait Rin! I’m Sorry! Don’t leave me!” The man screeched grappling onto the boy’s leg, refusing to let go as Rin forced his legs forward in spite of the man clinging to him.

“Let go you damn leech! I’ll be back tomorrow!” He said, kicking the former away from him.

The man resigned, pouting holding his hands in his lap. “Fine. But I’ll have you know I'm not happy about this young man! You better be up sharp and early for training tomorrow” he said folding his arms across himself

“Yeah yeah.” Rin said making himself out the door “I’ll see you tomorrow Iblis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp there you have chapter one! I hope you guys don't mind my interpretation of Iblis too much, I will go into more description of his character in the next chapter. And sorry the chapter was short I already had a plan for how I wanted to end the chapter so that was the reason. Anywho I hope you enjoyed and if you did PLEASE drop a kudos and comment down below they really mean a lot. I will update as soon as possible.


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin looks back to when he first met Iblis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

“That damn demon, always keeping me so late.” Rin angrily muttered as he walked home, hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Rin knew the old man and Yukio would be upset with him when he returned home, they always seemed to be. ‘Tch. They have no place being upset with me like that, they have no right, considering all that I have to be angry about with them.’ Years, they have been keeping something so big from me for years. Why couldn’t be something simple like ‘oh you're adopted’, yeah I’m adopted no shit! Adopted by the Paladin for god’s sake, and if that was crazy enough, my biological father is Satan. Satan! Like what the hell did I do to deserve this? How ironic, all of those people calling me a demon as a child, only if they knew that it’s the truth. I am a demon. I wonder what would've happened if Iblis hadn't found me all of those years ago.

 

* * *

 

 

_Rin ran, he ran as fast as his feet could take him, and then he ran faster._

_“Get back ‘ere you little brat! You think you can get away alive after that little stunt you pulled?!” A man yelled after the young child, chasing after him._

_Rin kept running and_ _running_ _but the man didn’t seem to be giving up. He had only wanted to help those other kids! They didn’t know how to fight, given Rin isn’t the strongest but he was certainly stronger than them! They were helpless, he couldn’t just not do anything. He was at the playground playing on the swing by himself, the other kids didn’t like him, and he didn’t like them, they called him mean names. And all of a sudden this man with black hair to match his beady eyes appeared out of nowhere and started talkin’ to the other kids. Rin was about to tell them that they shouldn’t talk to strangers when the man tackled one of the kids to the ground. The kid was struggling to get free of the man's grasp and Rin panicked. He turned his head back and forth, searching for an adult with no luck. He knew he couldn’t just sit here, he had to help, so he jumped up from the swing and ran at the man with a growl. Just a foot from the man, Rin leaped, successfully knocking the man to his side, which in turn freed the child. Knowing the man wouldn’t stay down for long, rin jumped up and ran a safe distance away. Once he was sure he had the man’s attention, he pulled the skin around his eyes back, blew a raspberry into the air, then started laughing. Granted it wasn’t the most mature option, but it got the man chasing him with a renewed burst fury. Rin quickly turned around and began running as fast as he possibly could away from the man who wanted to harm him._

_Thinking back on it, the plan could’ve used some work, but it was all he could think of at the moment. Now, his legs and lungs burning, Rin regrets not thinking it through better. The man didn’t seem to be slowing down, in fact, he only seemed to be getting faster, or maybe Rin was just getting slower, yep that was probably it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep running like this for much longer, he had to do something. Searching his surroundings for something, no anything that could help, or at least slow the man down, he saw a small alleyway to his left - thinking it through he would of figured that an alleyway is possibly the worst place to go when you're in danger - but Rin_ _didn’t think it through and took a sharp left running down the alleyway. Turning behind him he saw the man was still very much on his tail, picking up his steps he turned forward, and his stomach dropped. A dead end. Of course there was a dead end, why wouldn’t there be? He knew that there was no way out of this. This was it, this was the end, he slowed his pace and came to a halt at the grimy brick wall that just signed his death sentence. Turning around and facing the man he saw that he had stopped running, now he claimed a slow predatorial walk, stalking up to his prey with a victorious smirk plastered on his face._

_“Well, well. Looks like ya caught yourself in your own trap there boy, don’t it?” The man chuckled as if he had no doubt this would be the outcome from the very beginning._

_Rin knew there was no way he could get out of this, the alley was far too narrow to simply run right past him, the man would surely capture him easily. There was no way he was strong enough to fend himself against a grown man like this one. There wasn't anything he could do, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t struggle his hardest against the man, he wouldn’t just give up without a fight._

_The man came to a stop directly in front of the young boy, and without hesitation shoved him against the wall, so hard that Rin heard a small crack which lead to the most piercing, blinding pain he had ever felt. It was as if his head had been split in two, he felt himself grow nauseous and his eyes grew blurry. The only thing he could think of was how horrid the man's breath smelt as he said things he couldn’t hear much less understand. He groaned, the man was still talking and he wouldn’t shut up as seconds passed by Rin’s senses seemed to come back if only slightly, and yep the man’s breath was still horrible._

_“Do you hear_ _me brat?! You’re dead! Dead ya hear?” the man screamed in his face._

_Rin grunted, he couldn’t breathe. He realized the man had begun choking him, Rin struggled against his grip on his throat, scratching, pulling, and unsuccessfully biting at the offender, nothing seemed to work, the man had only tightened his grip. Seconds past and Rin started feeling lightheaded, or more so than before, he could feel himself slowly losing consciousness. Maybe if I could just close my eyes, he thought to himself. No! I can’t die! I want to live! Please no, let me live! He struggled more, and his inner turmoil suddenly reached its peak._

_He was warm. So warm, it felt as if he was snuggled up under his blankets on a winter day after his papa had tucked him in. It was a sort of warmth he had never fully felt before, it felt as if he had been missing something his whole life and it was suddenly returned it him, this warmth feels like home. ‘Wait, am I dead? No, I can’t be dead!’ He opened his eyes he hadn't even realized he closed. He saw blue, a beautiful blue, like the skies on a sunny day, the blue had deep tones and layers the color of the ocean. Rin made the decision in that moment that it was his favorite color. He realized that his head was no longer fuzzy, and his head no longer hurt, in fact he felt the best he had since he could remember. Shaking away his cloudy thoughts, Rin focused back to the matter at hand as the flames suddenly began fading away, and a large part of Rin didn’t want them to. Regardless of what he wanted the blue flames cleared completely and the first thing that came to Rin’s mind was the smell. It was terrible, far worse than the man’s breath. Speaking of the man, where was he? Eyes darting back and forth, Rin couldn’t catch sight of him. Where did he go? Looking down his eyes widened in horror, and he let out such a loud scream that it tore at his throat. He backed himself into the corner, trying to get as far away from it has he could. What laid before him was a corpse, it was mangled and shriveled and burnt to the crisp, any sort of flesh or bones left was charred an ugly black. With trembling hands Rin covered his eyes, they were wet. He was crying. Oh._

_Rin didn’t know how much time had_ past _as he sat there sobbing into his hands, he did know it had been a while if his hands, pruned from his tears were anything to go by. The sobbing wouldn’t stop, his eyes grew dry a while back, and his throat was raw and hoarse. What could have been hours later he distantly heard footsteps._

_“Are you okay young one?” A gentle voice called._

_Rin jumped back against the wall_ , _and snapped his wide eyes up to the voice. It was a man. A rather friendly looking man despite his sharp features. He was a tall man, with long black hair that reached his shoulders and high cheekbones that gave him a look of royalty. Not to mention his sleek black button up and black jeans and shoes to match. His kind honey brown eyes contradicted the rest of his appearance. Rin couldn’t help but notice how cool the man was, and Rin wanted to be cool, he knew he wanted to be just like this man. Despite his admiration Rin was terrified, did this man want to hurt him too?_

_The man crouched down in front of the young boy, careful not to step on the steaming corpse beside them, and reached his hand out to the boy._

_“My name is Iblis, and you are?” The man softly inquired, not wanting to further frighten the child._

_“I-I’m R-Rin” The boy said hesitantly taking the man’s hand_

* * *

 

 

Looking up, Rin realized he had already reached the monastery, opening the rickety gate with a sigh, he readied himself to face his impending doom.


	3. Pizazz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iblis calls for more pizazz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

Rin had been gone for hours.

This occurrence has become usual for the boy, and Shirou manages to get by without stressing too much about it, that is beside today. Rin may often be gone for long periods of time with no explanation, but he almost always manages to return home before dinner, and if not by dinner, he is always home by lights out. Long story short, he’s not back yet.

Shirou and Yukio sit in the kitchen at an empty table, dinner long past, chests tight in worry. They both know how Rin thinks he can handle anything, but he is wrong. Rin may be a fighter, but he is no match for a decently strong man, much less a demon. It’s times like these that Shirou regrets not telling him of the dangers of Gehenna.

With the creaking of the kitchen door, Shirou and Yukio snapped their heads to the sound to see Rin covered in scrapes and bandages.

“Rin!” the priest shouted, jumping up from his chair, Yukio following suit.

“Where have you been Nii-chan?” Yukio yelled

Rin calmly walked past the dining table and kitchen counter, opening the fridge, searching for any left over from dinner. Finding some leftover noodles, a victorious grin appeared on his face as he closed the fridge door, taking the container out with him.

“I was at work.” he said turning to them.

“The work that you were fired from today? I got a call, said they couldn’t have an employee who doesn’t even bother to return.” Shirou said with an unimpressed look on his face.

“Where were you Rin?” Yukio asked

“And where did you get those injuries?” Shirou added in

“I really was at work. I got held up in a fight and forgot to return.” Rin said, his face giving nothing away as he dished his share of noodles onto a plate.

“Who bandaged them then?” Yukio asked, knowing that no one could treat to his wounds so professionally without the knowledge.

“I did.” He said

“If you came straight home after your fight then where did you manage to find bandages?” Shirou countered

Slamming the microwave door shut and starting it with its signature beeps, Rin threw his hands up in the air.

“I don’t know, a friendly old lady passing by happened to have a few band aids and kindly lent them to me? Yukio, how’d you get that cut on your forehead huh?” Rin asked with a bitter scowl on his face.

A nasty encounter with a Malkin was how he’d got the cut, but of course he wasn’t going to just go ahead and tell Rin that.

“I fell.” Yukio stated knowing how unbelievable and ridiculous the lie was as the words left his mouth.

Hearing the high-pitched beep of the microwave, Rin took out his plate and turned, throwing one last scowl at the two before stomping his way out the door with a slam, leaving them in silence once again.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m tellin’ ya Rin, it’s perfectly understandable for you to harbor these feelings for me! I mean I’d be lying if I said I hadn't at least thought about it, so there’s no reason to feel so embarrassed about it!”

Here he was, once again stuck listening to the ramblings of the demon king of fire. Things weren’t too bad this morning with Yukio and the old man, as usual the priest tried to make a joke about everything to avoid conflict, and as usual Yukio went along with it. Now he had the unfortunate luck to have to listen to Iblis continue this twisted fantasy that Rin has had some long withheld infatuation for him, during a break from training.

“Goddamnit shut up you creepy pedophile!” Rin shouted, bringing his fist down on the top of the demon’s head.

“Owie! Owie! Owie!” Iblis yelled rubbing the top of his head while rolling around on the floor, as if that would somehow relieve the pain.

“Serves you right.” Rin muttered, looking the other way and resting his chin on his fist.

Miraculously recovering and sitting up, Iblis suddenly shouted “That’s it!”

“What’s what?” Rin grumbled, his interest mildly peaked.

“You’re sick of Glasses and the Paladin trying to hide this stuff from you right?” Iblis asked, voice turning slightly serious.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?” he replied, a wary look on his face.

“I say this has gone on long enough, them knowingly keeping this from you. I mean night after night they have gone out on their little patrols, fighting the night, acting like heroes and leaving you in the dark. I remember when you were just a young child, not long after I’d found you, knocking on my door in the middle of the night, a sobbing mess, because your papa and brother left again.” Iblis said with a sigh.

“I say we put an end to all of these secrets.” Iblis said simply

Taking everything the former said in, Rin realized that this really does need to end. Enough with all of the lies and secrets. Not only with how it has affected him as Iblis stated, but how it has affected the others involved, is why this really needs to stop. Nothing good has come of this, only resentment on Rin’s part.

“How would we even do it? I don’t think an ‘Oh yeah I know you and Yukio are exorcists and have kept it from me my whole life’ would go down well. Besides that, things wouldn’t just stay as they are. The old man would get the Clown and maybe even The Order involved, and I know things wouldn’t abide well with them.” Rin said, his mind going over all of the possibilities of what could happen in that scenario.

“I think we would have to do it smoothly. You can’t just straight out tell them like that, there has to be more pizzaz, yes, yes more pizazz.” He muttered, mind going off into uncharted territories.

Scoffing and rolling his eyes, Rin shook his head.

“Well Iblis, what would you say we do that has more ‘pizazz’ huh? he sarcastically said

As if a light bulb switched on in his head, Iblis’s eyes widened and he grew a mischievous grin.

“That kid you fought yesterday, the one with the white hair, he was in the process of being possessed, by that pesky brother of ours, Ashteroth I believe. He’s bound to come around again one way or another, and I say when that does happen, someone sends a little tip to the Paladin that a certain son of Satan is getting attacked by a demon and needs help. From there on after ‘saving’ you, he’ll have to tell you the truth and you can gradually tell him that you already knew and have been holding a crushing resentment for him and glasses for years! Perfect!” Iblis said with a triumphant grin, as if he just discovered the cure for cancer.

Rin thought it over in his head, and the plan actually seemed pretty decent, and apparently it met Iblis’s standards of ‘pizazz’ but maybe instead of causing all of this drama of a fake awakening he should just take the easy way and tell the old man and Yukio. Then again it does seem pretty boring to just tell them straight forward like that, very anti-climatic after such a long secret, and Iblis looks like he just won a round trip to Disneyland, so what the hell, might as well.

“Alright! Let’s do it!” Rin shouted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly short but I figure some is better than none..


	4. Side-kick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

_“I don’t want to see this anymore.” A young Rin said, diverting his eyes away from the scene before him._

_Shirou and Yukio were attacking a small group of ghouls possessing the corpses of decaying hounds. Or more accurately, Yukio attacking, quickly shooting silver shells from two small handguns, while Shirou gave quick side instruction whenever he seemed to deem it necessary._

_How could papa not have told him? How could Yukio not have told him? The two boys share everything with each other, no secret could be kept from each other, or at least that is what Rin believed._

_When Iblis told him of what his family was keeping from him, he didn’t want to believe it, he couldn’t believe it. He demanded that he see it for himself before he even thought of second questioning his trust for the two. And that is what led him to be here, hidden behind the trees and darkness of a vast forest, watching his father and brother with a mix of hurt and betrayal. What led him to turn away and throw his small body into the Demon King of Fire’s arms and quietly sobbing like the young child he was. What led to his young, naive trust for his family to be completely destroyed, never to be the same._

_“C’mon young one, how about we get you a cup of hot chocolate to warm up huh? It’s getting real cold out here.” Iblis murmured as he carried away the young son of Satan._

_beep_

_beep_

_BEEP_

 

Rin groaned as he awoke, stretching and shaking his head to clear away the fogginess of his dream. Raising his hand he blindly searched for the small clock causing the racket, slamming his fist on the small button, he let out a satisfied grunt when the noise stopped.

“You should get up nii-san, you’ll miss breakfast.” Yukio called

Rising from bed with another grunt and yawn, Rin wobbled his way to the monastery kitchen. Upon reaching it he was greeted with a variety of ‘hello’s and ‘good morning’s as he made his way to his place at the dining table.

“Out late again were you?” Shirou announced as he walked past the now seated Rin, delivering his food with a smack to the back of his head.

Iblis was having far too much fun scheming out the details of his ‘awakening’ and apparently Rin needed to be there for it.

“I was busy applying for jobs all day, got held up.” Rin said, the lie rolling right off his tongue.

“Hm. Well look no further, I managed to call in a favor and get you an interview at the grocery store on south.” The priest boasted as he slid a sheet across the table.

“Tch. You put me in for an interview without my permission?” Rin said, annoyed that the old man didn’t even consult him on the matter. Maybe he didn’t want to work at the grocery store, maybe he had standards.

“Yep! Finish your breakfast and get dressed, Yanaba said he’d let you borrow his suit for the interview.” he said with a cheeky smile.

“Yeah, yeah old man.” Rin grumbled, shoving the last of his food in his mouth, and getting up with a screech of the chair.

Yanaba then walked into the kitchen and tossed a box into Rin’s waiting arms.

“Just don’t scuff it up alright?” he said, laughing as if he just made some groundbreaking joke.

With a small thanks Rin tucked the small box under his arm then headed back to his room, seeing Yukio had already left - probably packing away the rest of his boxes into the old man’s car - Rin dressed himself into the ill fitting suit. Deftly tying his tie, Rin mentally thanked Iblis for teaching him how to all those years back.

Walking back to the kitchen and grabbing the form off the table, Rin looked out the window and saw the priest talking to a woman and presumably her daughter.

“Tch.” Holding back a bitter scowl, Rin pushed open the door and headed to his interview, purposely ignoring the priest calling his name as he walked past them.

After a few minutes of walking he looked down at the form, flicking a coal tar out of his view, to see everything filled out in neat handwriting.

“Okumura-kun!~” A voice called from ahead of him, looking up he saw the kid from a few days ago along with some of his friends.

“Do you have a second?” The white haired boy asked with a vicious smile.

Ignoring the taunts from the rest of his gang, Rin had a single thought - ‘So it begins’.

With an grimace, he followed walked forward and followed them until they came to a stop in a dark alley corner, he frowned thinking to his past experiences in alleys.

The white haired boy turned to him, vicious smirk still intact.

“Sorry about yesterday, I was only playing with the pigeons, but then my hand slipped.” He said, coal tar swarming around him, as if warning Rin of danger.

“So” he continued “How much do you want? I wouldn’t want any unsavory rumors to go around I'm going to an elite school you know, so consider me buying your silence. How much?” he asked condescendingly

“Five- thousand yen.” Rin replied with no hesitation, might as well get something out of this he thought to himself.

The former seemed shocked at his response, but quickly recovered, and fished out the money from his wallet.

“Heh, what a high bargainer you are.” he said as he tossed a wad of money at Rin, which he caught and stuffed in his pocket, turning to leave the shady corner.

“That’s it huh? I didn’t peg you to be so easily paid off” he chuckled “Everyone would call you a demon when we were younger you know. They were probably right!” He then began to cackle as he walked forward and grabbed Rin by the shoulder, raising a fist.

Before he could continue, Rin quickly turned around and swung his fist hitting the other smack in the middle of his face, satisfied when he heard the crack of his nose breaking. The boy fell to the floor, cradling his nose as he began shaking, coal tar surrounded him practically vibrating in panic as the boy grew horns and his nails turned an ugly black growing into full-blown claws, demonic features taking over.

“I wouldn’t push my luck if I was you!” He shouted in a distorted voice, sharp canines revealed as the words poured out.

‘Ah, here we are’ Rin thought to himself as he watched the possession complete itself. Pushed face first to the ground by the “boy’s” friends, Rin groaned. He looked up to see the demon pulling a scorching metal pole from a fire pit.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth as they say! I’m going to give you back twice the pain you gave me!” He shouted stalking towards him, fiery pole swinging in his hand.

“Don’t you think that’s enough Shiratori?” One of the nervous assailants holding him down said

“Shut the hell up!” the demon shouted, kicking the kid back, and grabbing Rin by the hair, the pole approaching his face.

“Now where would you like me to burn you? The nose? The ears? Oh, or maybe the eyes?” he cackled throwing his head back, the pole nearing Rin’s eyes. “A human barbecue!”

Figuring he had waited long enough, Rin let a small amount of his flames be released, shielding him from his assailants.

“Get away from me!” He yelled for effect, hearing the others run away screaming, leaving him alone with the demon.

“Ah. Those blue flames, proof you really are the son of Satan.” The demon said, crouching in front of Rin. “My name is Astaroth, come with me young prince, Satan has long awaited your arrival.” He said, reaching out his hand to him.

Just when he was about to give the asshole an earful about what he was, and wasn’t going to do, a familiar voice began chanting from behind him.

“Evils are in their hearts…” Shirou chanted as he walked forward.

“Curses! Are you an exorcist?!” Astaroth screamed

“Blessed be the lord...” he continued

“I will rip your tongue out of your throat so you can never utter such cursed spells again!” He bellowed as he sprinted forward towards the priest.

Dodging the demon’s attack, the Paladin flipped the demon onto his back, finishing his chant.

“Thou shall perish where thou standeth!” He yelled, exorcising the demon from the boy’s body.

Gently dropping the boy’s arm, he looked up back to Rin. “Are you alright?” he asked

“Never mind me, is that guy gonna be alright?” Rin asked, he’d never actually seen an exorcism before, he specializes in just killing them.

“I exorcised the demon that was possessing him, he should come to in a moment.” The priest replied “You can see them now too can’t you?” He asked while he blew at a coal tar lingering near his face.

Of course he could see him, he had been able to see them for years, but he couldn’t just tell him that, so he went with the surprised reaction.

“Those are demon’s too?” he asked as one passed by his face

“Yes, it’s coal tar which possesses fungi, they dwell near dark places as well as introverted humans. The world is comprised of two dimensions, joined as one. One is the material world we live in, known as Assiah. The other one is an empty realm inhabited by demons known as Gehenna. Now having possessed all material substance in the Assiah, the demons are now intruding. Now stand up! Thanks to this uproar, the demons have now learned of your awakening. Doubtless now demons of all species will come after you for all kinds of reasons, before that comes to pass you must hide!” He shouted, a neutral expression on his face. “Rin, you are not human. You are the son of a demon borne by a human woman, you are the son of Satan.” the priest said, a grave tone in his voice.

Huh. He didn’t expect the old man to just come out and tell him everything, just like that. After all of this waiting there it was. The truth. The truth in his words, from his mouth. Rin feels his hatred, his resentment burn in his chest, stronger now than ever. That was it old man? That was all it took and you waited till now? For what? To protect me? To let me live a normal life? Nice job old man, watch your little plan crumble at your feet as it finally ends. Rin took deep breaths, this wasn’t the time or place for this, he needed to calm himself.

Shirou grabbed Rin’s arm pulling him along, he figured he was in shock from the sudden information, and was he wrong. Rin caught on and matched a running place with the old man.

After a few minutes of running, Rin recognized Southern Cross Mall as they passed by. In front of him he heard the old man chanting of another incantation ridding them of a more powerful ghoul blocking their way, it quickly disappearing in smoke, and they continued running. Jumping over a ledge they looked forward to see dozens and dozens of ghouls, possessing decaying hounds, looking ready to attack. He turned to his right to see the old man pulling out some sort of bomb, Rin scrunched up his nose in disgust, _holy water_ , the smell of it practically makes his nose burn.

“Not to worry, it’s only holy water!” The priest yelled, seeing Rin’s face, as he threw it into the center of the piling rabid ghouls.

Running forward while the ghouls were down, he ran forward, opened a door, and pulled Rin inside, letting out a sigh.

“It’s not exactly easy babysitting at my age you know!” He said as he leaned against the door.

Rin didn’t reply, his anger still boiling in his chest.

“Now, let’s get home while we can, the sun will set soon, that’s when demons become most active.” the paladin said, starting down the stairs, to head to ground level.

They continued their short journey home, running at a face pace, and what seemed like seconds later they approached the monastery. Meanwhile the possessed boy came to, as his possession was once again restored.

Reaching the monastery, the old man immediately began speaking to the other priests, ordering them to double the barrier. Walking inside he heard Astaroth’s kin trying to breach the monastery, held back by the barrier. He watched as the old man pulled back the stand, revealing a short staircase.

“Come with me!” The Paladin yelled, making his way down the staircase.

Rin followed, at the end of the staircase he saw an old wooden dresser, and automatically knew what it held. He could feel the remaining bits of his power calling to him, locked in that damn sword. Years back, Iblis helped him find a way to release his power from the sword while leaving the small bit that would grant him his demonic features. Iblis wanted to make sure that he would know how to completely control him flames for when it became necessary, so all that is left in the sword is bits and scraps of his power, just enough to keep him appearing human.

He watched as the old man unlocked the drawer of the dresser, pulling out the blue engraved sword.

“The Koma Sword, also know as Kurikara, is a legendary, demon-slaying sword from ancient times, I have sealed your demonic powers into this sword, keep it with you at all times, but just remember, this sword must never be drawn! Once drawn your demonic powers will be awakened.” he said with a grave voice, handing him the katana.

With the shaking of the monastery the two ran up the stairs to see Astaroth back full force, an army of demons behind him. Grabbing Rin by the shoulders he quickly spoke.

“Come morning, demon activity will taper off, you must leave and hide where demons won’t find you.” He then handed Rin a small cell phone. “Here is my phone, there is only one number saved on the device, he’s a good friend, call him as soon as you leave the monastery. I’m sure he’ll take you in and protect you!” He then pushed him down the short stairwell and closed off the entrance, leaving without another glance.

“Tch. Goddamn old man, just ditching me down here now huh?” Rin mumbled as he sat up, setting the sword in front of him.

Looking down at the phone in his hand, he flipped it open, searching through the contacts. There was one like the old man said, it was titled M. That damn clown was supposed to care for him now then, that just sounds like a bundle of fun, Rin sighed and leaned back against the wall, closing the flip phone and stuffing it in his pocket. The floor was lightly rumbling every few seconds, as he heard shouts and racket from above. That Paladin better not get himself killed, he thought to himself. Minutes that seemed like hours past, and Rin figured he should get some sleep seeing that he has nothing else to do, but the sleep just wouldn’t come. Time past and eventually the rumbling and racket stopped, and eventually even the light tapping of footsteps stopped too. Rin pulled out the phone and saw it was six a.m. probably an okay time to come out now, he thought to himself.

Standing up and stretching he heard a few worrisome pops that definitely didn't sound good but didn't dwell on it as he picked up the forgotten sword. Walking up the creaky stairs, Rin wondered how the hell the old man expected him to get out of here, he literally heard him lock it shut. Flattening his palm against the sealed entranced he pushed, and pushed but it wouldn’t budge. Looking down at the sword, covered with a silk cloth, he looked back up at the exit, and brought the end of it down on the wooden exit. Using brash strength to break apart the wood, pieces flying everywhere, he reached the end and crawled out, careful not to splinter his skin on the sharp wood. Brushing himself off he looked around, seeing everyone was gone and any mess was cleaned up, he threw the sword over his shoulder and headed out the back exit. Figuring he should head to see Iblis before he granted the old man’s wish and called the clown, maybe the king of fire at least got some entertainment out of this whole ordeal.

Settling into a light jog he was there in no time, dropping down the tunnel, he ran towards the door and brought up his fist to pound at the door, only for it to open before he had the chance.

“Rin! You’re back!” Iblis yelled and pulled the boy inside, shutting the door behind them. “I have to say, that was quite the show, though that damn Paladin did anger me more times than I care to admit.” He said, sitting himself down in a chair in the corner of the training room.

“It seems he dumped me off to have the clown ‘protect’ me. I can’t stay long, I’m suppose to call him to get me.” Rin responded dropping himself onto the other chair, across from Iblis.

“Samuel is suppose to care for you? Don’t call him! I can protect you just fine!” Iblis shouted, looking genuinely worried.

“We both know I don’t need to be protected Iblis, this is just for show until I can sort out my next move.” He replied, rolling his eyes.

“I know, I’m just worried about you. I don’t want you to get hurt any more than you already have.” Iblis said with soft eyes.

“I’ll be fine, you just need to worry about getting into True Cross’s protective barrier, I can’t go on without my sidekick by my side.” Rin said with a chuckle.

“Sidekick? Who says I’m your sidekick? If anything you’re my sidekick! I'm the Demon King of Fire! That’s sort of a big deal, you're just some puny, baby prince, Okay?” Iblis defended, looking practically scandalized.

“In your dreams.” Rin said in a teasing tone, as he got up from his seat and headed back to the door, turning the handle. “I’ll see you soon Iblis.” he said, closing the door behind him.

Figuring it would be suspicious if he was found wandering when the clown came to get him, Rin quickly made his way back to the monastery, before he pulled out the old man’s phone. Finding the contacts and clicking m. Rin held the phone to his ear, after only one ring the recipient picked up, as if he had been waiting for the call.

“Aha, so you finally called! Rin was it?” A far too cheery voice sang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this was hardly edited so if some things don't make sense sorry haha I'll edit it later. PLEASE comment and kudos! Everyone really means a lot


	5. Onii-san

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin settles into his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

“So Rin, a while back your father asked me to care for you when the time was right, the time has now come, but I have a few conditions.” Mephisto said in his usual flippant voice as he leaned back in his desk chair.

Shortly after calling the clown a he came to pick him up from the monastery in an ugly pink limo that almost made him roadkill. Afterwards the two were driven to True Cross Academy, where they now sit, in the clown’s office. Rin sat sideways on the wooden chair across from Mephisto, kicking his feet back and forth.

“Go on, clown.” Rin said, raising a brow at the clown’s smirk.

“If you say so. _First_! You must keep your flames and identity as a son of Satan hidden from any student, teacher, or exorcist you may see. _Second_! You will attend the exorcist cram school from here on out, it is necessary for you to understand the dangers that face you. _Third_! The last condition, but certainly not least, you must call me Onii-chan from now on! I am your big brother after all, and I also don’t appreciate being called ‘clown’.” Mephisto said, saying the last part with a distasteful frown

“Done.” Rin replied with a bored look on his face. “So where am I sleeping tonight _Onii-chan_?” He then asked with a wicked smirk.

“You will stay in True Cross’s abandoned dormitory, along with your twin.” Mephisto replied, slightly surprised by how easily Rin agreed to the conditions, along with his forwardness.

That information definitely put a damper on Rin’s mood, he sighed and got up from his seat, stretching then looking at Mephisto expectantly.

“Are you going to show me where this abandoned dormitory is or what?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

Suddenly with an ‘eins zwei drei’ there was a poof of pink smoke and where Mephisto previously sat, was a small, white dog. Rin watched as it jumped off the chair and came to a stop at Rin’s feet.

“Let’s get going then.” It spoke, it’s voice a slightly distorted version of Mephisto's.

Walking towards the exit and holding the door open for the small terrier.

“So you can shapeshift huh? What a neat little magic trick.” Rin said, his teasing voice contradicting the bored look he had on his face, as he walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

With a small scoff, Mephisto chose to ignore Rin’s remark as he led him into a large golden elevator, signature soft music in the background. Seeing as he had no hands, he looked pointedly at the button with a 1. Seeing this Rin gently pushed the button and stepped back, leaning against the elevator wall.

Moments later, with a soft ‘ding’ the doors once again opened, revealing the very center of True Cross. As Rin stepped out he viewed the students and sparse exorcists running around, some in what seemed to be a rush, some dancing in front of a wooden stand, festive music and cheerful laughter could be heard. Following Mephisto's lead away from the festivities, Rin walked at the dog’s side.

Street after street, turn after turn, the dog finally came to a stop, Rin following suit. Looking up, Rin assessed what is now his home, it was disgusting really. Dirt, stains, and cobwebs, the large dormitory had it all, Rin figured the inside would be better as he walked forward.

Hearing a soft ‘poof’ behind him, Rin turned around to see Mephisto returned to his original self, clown getup and all.

“Before you get yourself settled in, which I'm sure you will, here.” Mephisto said, tossing a small ancient looking key at him.

Raising his right hand and catching it, Rin stuffed it in his pocket, not bothering to inspect it any further, he had a hunch as to what it was.

“The key can access the cram school at any time through any door, take great care of it, cram school starts tomorrow” Mephisto said, already turning around and walking away with the small wave of his hand.

Turning away, Rin rested his hand on the strap of his sword as he opened the door to the dormitory. Sensing a demon, Rin followed the trail leading to what seemed to be the main kitchen, Upon hearing racket from behind the counter, he walked forward and leaned against the countertop, to see a small red demon, a stove spirit he believed, preparing a meal.

“Hello.” Rin said to the stove spirit, to which it then jumped and turned to him. “I’m Rin, and you are?" he introduced himself.

“Young Prince!” It squeaked out. “I’m Ukobach, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I cook the meals here.” The stove spirit said, his voice soft and high pitched.

“Well Ukobach, we’ll have to cook a meal together sometime.” Rin said with a small smile, feeling an unusual soft spot for the stove spirit.

“Of course! Feel free to use my kitchen whenever you please.” Ukobach said grinning brightly up at the son of satan then returning to chopping lettuce.

At the conversation ending, Rin turned around and was about to head out to explore the dormitory, only to be interrupted by a familiar twin walking into the kitchen.

“Nii-san! You’ve made it I see.” Yukio said, surprised to see the other.

“That I have.” Rin said, a bored look returning to his face.

“C’mon I’ll show you to our room.” Yukio said, turning around and walking down the hall, to which Rin followed closely.

“Our?” Rin questioned, annoyed at the thought of having to share a room with him again.

“Of course. It’ll be like we’re back at the monastery!” he replied

Coming to a stop in front of a creaked open door, Yukio pushed it open all the way, revealing a large room, bunk beds on each end of the room along with a desk, nightstand, and a wardrobe on each end of the room. Seeing the right side was already occupied by Yukio’s things, Rin walked past him, to the bed on the left side, closest to the door. Pulling Kurikara and his hoodie off of his back he dumped them on his bed, dropping himself beside them. Looking back up at Yukio when he heard him clear his throat.

“Dad had brought over what we thought you might need, clothes and stuff, but if you need anything else I'm sure you can get a ride back to the monastery.” Yukio said, gesturing to the wardrobe beside him.

Deciding to give him a hard time while he still could, a thought popped into his head.

“So the old man already visited the school huh? That was awfully kind of him, you think he’d be busy doing his job as a priest.” Rin said innocently.

“He just wanted you to be as prepared as possible with your sudden acceptance to True Cross.” Yukio replied without hesitation, as if he had no clue of why Rin was really here.

‘Touche, brother, touche.’ Rin thought to himself

“Anyways I’ve had a long day so I’ll just hit the hay, goodnight Yukio.” Rin said, pushing his sword and jacket to the floor beside him and tucking himself into the comforter of his bed.

“Yeah, goodnight nii-san.” Yukio said, almost to himself as he already heard Rin’s breathing turn soft and steady.

Yukio was confused. There was something off about Rin, well there has always been something off about Rin but that was inevitable, considering he is the spawn of Satan. But the way he looked at him, it was if he could see straight through Yukio’s lies, as if he was knowingly just playing along for Yukio’s sake. It was as if he was just trying to mess with Yukio’s head. Then again, finding out you’re half demon, a son of Satan nonetheless must be rather stressing, he is probably just reacting badly to it all, Yukio thought as he headed back to bed, hoping for a good night sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boring chapter, I know. It was mostly just a filler for what will happen next. Comment and kudos below :)


	6. Teacher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin meets his instructor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

The next morning Yukio left early since he had regular school classes, so Rin was left alone for the morning. Fortunately the clown didn’t include regular school in his little list of conditions. His morning was boring for the most part, he got up early, around six and took a bath and cleaned up. It seemed that he couldn’t ever sleep in anymore, no matter how hard he tried, sleep just didn’t come to him past 7am, along with the constant nightmares, sleep wasn’t his most favorite thing to do.

After bathing he had breakfast, made by Ukobach, and he had to admit, that little demon was a damn good cook. He thanked the little demon, then headed to explore the rest of the dormitory with his free time.

Inspecting each wing and room, he found nothing of interest, it was all just dull dorm rooms and living areas, also couple more kitchens that seemed far too filthy to cook any food in. The only place that slightly peaked his interest was the roof, it was for the most part bare, weeds growing in through the cracks in concrete, the view is what caught his attention. You could see all of True cross from the roof, it would be the perfect place to watch the sunset.

Going back to his room, he pulled on his navy blue hoodie over his white shirt, then looked at the time. Figuring he should probably head to his class, he put Kurikara over his shoulder then pulled mephisto’s key from his pocket. Pushing it into the keyhole of his door he turned it then opened the door. Walking through and taking his key then shutting his door he looked around, he was in a large hall, the walls showcasing intricate designs all throughout it. Beside him was a single door, not seeing any others he figured this is where he should probably go. Walking over the black and red tile, he reached the door and opened it without hesitation, walking into the small, beat up classroom. He saw about seven students, grouped up and quietly talking to each other, he figured the teacher hadn’t arrived yet, not bothering to introduce himself, he sat in the front middle, seeing there were no other students near there.

Hearing footsteps come from the doorway, Rin turning to see Yukio enter the classroom dressed in the standard exorcist uniform, with a brown suitcase.

Tch. So this is the class that Yukio is teaching, Iblis mentioned a few weeks back that Yukio was appointed the position to teach. Damn, he should of figured it would be Anti-Demon Pharmacology that he’d teach.

Resting his suitcase on the desk at front with a heavy thud, Yukio began speaking.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Yukio Okumura, your instructor.” he said with a friendly smile on his face, not acknowledging Rin’s presence.

Rin heard a few pleased to meet you around the class.

“Even though I'm the same age as you all, I’ve been studying exorcism since i was seven, and finished all my courses two years ago. So to be practical, I would appreciate that you all call me “teacher” in this class.” He said, his friendly smile not wavering. “Is there anyone who hasn’t received their tempaint?.” he then asked

A few people raised their hands, Rin felt a spark of irritation. These people were ridiculous, training to become an exorcist when they haven’t even looked into the eyes of what they seek to destroy. It’s disgusting.

“Three of you then. In that case we will start with the Tempiant Ritual. The fact is this classroom isn’t used, and now is a den of hobgoblins, a certain kind of demon.” Yukio continued

Which to I heard gasps around the room and a “Is this place safe?” from a purple-haired girl to my right, that I then decided to nickname ‘eyebrows’ in honor of her caterpillar brows.

“It’s perfectly safe, hobgoblins are a low-level type of demon only capable of creating mischief.” Yukio replied, opening his suitcase and pulling out a thin vial of rotting blood, which to Rin’s mouth watered.

As disgusting as it was, blood was a bit of a delicacy to demons, him included whether he liked it or not.

“Upon catching the scent of this rotting blood, they get excited and in turn become ferocious. For those who have not received their tempiant, i will place a drop of the blood on each of your wrists, which will then cause a hobgoblin to appear, in turn it will then nip at the blood on your wrist, and you will gain the ability to see demons. After you receive the tempiant I will exorcise the hobgoblin, and we will move on.” Yukio concluded, walking and coming to a stop to the girl who sat beside eyebrows.

She held out her trembling wrist, fear clear in her eyes, as Yukio turned the small vial, and let a single drop of blood drip onto her pale wrist. A hobgoblin then appeared out of thin air, and quickly attacked the girl’s wrist, with a loud shriek from the girl, Yukio pulled a handgun from it’s holder and killed the green demon with one clean shot. He then held a small gauze to her wrist, now lightly bleeding her own blood. Wrapping it down with medical tape, Yukio moved on to the next person, while Eyebrows comforted her.

The next person was the shady looking kid in the back, his face hidden by a black hood. Or maybe her face? The person had a lithe woman like figure, besides the lack of chest. Hm. Likely an exorcist undercover, probably the doing of that damn clown. Her tempiant was “received” with no trouble, not a peep came from her when the hobgoblin bit at her wrist. Unlike the last student, who reacted much like the first girl. Finished, Yukio returned to the front of the class and put the vial back in his suitcase, closing it shut he looked back up to the class.

“I’m afraid that will be all today, it took longer than I anticipated so tomorrow we will begin our course.” Yukio said his friendly smile even more irritating to Rin than before.

The bell rang and the students shuffled out of class, while the three who received their tempiant spoke to Yukio on how to care for their small injuries. Rin slipped out with the rest of the class, not in the mood to speak to Yukio about his little not so secret.

Rin ended up back at Mephisto's office, figuring he had nothing better to do than bother the clown at the moment. Not bothering to knock, Rin strolled into his office and began nosing around Mephisto’s stuff, aware of the pair of eyes watching him. Looking around, he realized that the clown was really just a nerdy otaku, how lame.

“An all-powerful demon, second strongest king, is an otaku, how embarrassing.” Rin said, finally turning to Mephisto, enjoying seeing his face twitch in irritation.

“Rin, what do I owe the pleasure?” The clown said, a scary smile plastered on his face.

“I was bored.” Rin said simply as he walked over and lounged himself on the chair across from Mephisto, similarly to the last time he was in his office.

“And how does that concern me?” Mephisto inquired as he returned to his paperwork.

“The old man dumped me on you right? So that sorta makes me your responsibility, so that’s how it concerns you Onii-chan.” Rin said staring blankly at the ceiling above him.

Mephisto’s eyebrows rose, remembering that he told Rin to call him that, he didn’t actually expect the boy to keep up with it.

“I assume you attended cram school today?” Mephisto asked

“I did.” Rin replied, knowing what the clown was getting at, but choosing to ignore it.

“Anything..take you by surprise?” The demon then asked, wanting to hear what the young son of satan thought of the development.

“You mean Yukio being an exorcist and my new teacher?” Rin retorted, deciding to get it over with.

“Yes, I did mean to tell you of that by the way. It must have just slipped my mind.” Mephisto said, pointing to his jester’s hat with a crooked smile.

“Of course it did.” Rin said, slightly annoyed by the clown’s antics.

“You don’t seem very surprised at the news.” Mephisto continued

“Maybe because I’m not.” Rin replied, unimpressed at the clown’s way of “slyly” drawing information from him.

Now that bit of information peaked Mephisto’s interest.

“Now why is that?” He asked

Getting up from the wooden chair, Rin smirked

“What do you think?” Rin asked him, sauntering out of the office, leaving Mephisto craving more information.

What do you think? Rin’s words echoed in his head, the boy already knew? How could that be? Shiro was intent on keeping Rin in the dark for as long as possible, so how could he have already known of the twin’s position? All he knew was that that son of Satan had a load under his sleeve, and he was playing it wisely. This development could prove to be entertaining, Mephisto thought to himself with a smirk.

 

 (Time skip)

 

Yukio expected Rin to have an outburst and demand that Yukio explain to him what was going on in a typical Rin fashion when he made it to class that afternoon, but he didn’t. Not a single word came from the boy regarding Yukio’s position, not even a confused look. So to put it simply, Yukio himself was confused. During class he figured Rin was just being mature for once and holding himself back to berate Yukio after class, but by the time he finished speaking to a few students on how to care for their tempiant wounds, Rin was gone, nowhere to be seen in the small classroom. Which only further confused him, perhaps Rin went off to pick a fight somewhere in town, to release his anger and turmoil caused from the discovery of Yukio’s secret. His hypothesis was only furthered when he returned to the dormitory to see Rin gone. But a while later Rin returned unscathed with no signs he was fighting, with no signs of being even remotely upset, Yukio had no idea what was going on, so he decided to face it head on.

Rin was in his room unpacking a couple of boxes of stuff that the old man supposedly brought over. For the most part it was just random junk, some manga, some nick knacks, all and all pretty boring.

When he got back from Mephisto’s Yukio was obviously confused at his lack of berating him with questions of how he could possibly be an exorcist. Rin figured he’d just let Yukio confront him about it instead of digging himself in a deeper lie. He finished unpacking two of the three boxes and he couldn’t think of what would be in the third, how much more junk did he have? Pulling the box towards his spot that he sat on the ground, he grabbed the pocket knife sitting beside him and cut past the tape closing it. Dropping the knife to it’s previous spot he opened up the box the rest of the way and looked inside. Iblis. He thought as he peered at the contents, inside was more junk, but more interesting junk. The box contained old stuff that he and I use for training, or used to use for training, a couple of wooden swords, candles, empty pop cans, and a few bouncy balls. On top of the items was a small note, in Iblis’s bold scrawl it read, Just because I can’t get in yet doesn’t mean you can slack little one. He glanced around the room then quickly burnt the small note with his flames, not even leaving ashes. He didn’t question how the demon got this box into the dorm, along with his things from the old man, he knew Iblis had his ways. Shutting the box, he stuffed it in the back of his wardrobe, careful to cover it with his hung clothes. Shutting the doors to the wardrobe, Rin decided he should head out of his room and make some dinner, but before he could he was stopped by the voice of his brother.

“Rin.” Yukio called, trying to get his attention.

“Hm?” Rin turned to his twin.

“It seems like you’ve been avoiding me since you found out of me being an exorcist, it was unfortunate that you couldn’t know sooner but it was necessary, I'm sure you have some questions.” Yukio said, choosing his words carefully.

“Unfortunate, huh. I don’t have any questions about that, you explained it in class. Anyways I was just about to make dinner, what sounds good?” Rin asked, his face giving away nothing.

“What do you mean you don’t have any questions Nii-san?” Yukio raised his voice, sick of Rin’s aloofness

“I mean, I don’t give a fuck to hear anymore about your little secret.” Rin said, a cold edge to his voice.

Yukio froze, his eyes widened and Rin’s profane language along with his cold demeanor. It seemed he was upset after all, which of course made sense, and it what he expected, but this, his distant fury was not expected. Rin had a typical childish way of getting upset, he would lash out, scream, and sometimes use his fists, but this, he had never seen his brother this way, it just seemed so unlike him. He must be more angry at him for this than he had anticipated, and Yukio wasn’t sure how to go about this.

“R-Rin, I understand that you’re upset with me for keeping this from you, but it was necessary, I would have told you before if it wasn’t. I’m sure once you have a few hours of time to cool down, you’ll understand” Yukio said, trying to calm the hostile air.

Rin chuckled darkly, slowly shaking his head back and forth.

“Y’know Yukio, you were always the smart one, but maybe I've misjudged you all this time. A few hours isn’t going to do shit to make me understand your little secret if seven years couldn’t.” Rin said, his cold demeanor not wavering.

“Seven years?” Yukio voiced his thoughts out loud

“Do you really think that i’m that fucking stupid that I wouldn’t even realize what was going on around me for all those years? Did you really think that you and dad were being clever sneaking out to go train and play heroes of the night, leaving me by myself to wonder where oh where could they being going every day and night without me? I’m not the brightest, but even i’m not that stupid.” Rin said, his controlled calm threatening to shatter, his flames itching to release, to destroy.

Yukio was aghast for words, shocked to his very core. Rin knew? Rin knew all this time? How, how could this be? How could he know? How could he not have know? All of those hurt, forlorn looks Rin would give him when they were younger, the sudden shift, the change that was in the very air, when Rin started leaving without explanation to dad or him, when Rin became more distant, and began getting into more fights. When suddenly, Yukio wasn’t as close to his brother as he used to be.

In the midst of Yukio’s inner ramblings Rin strode out of the room before his fury would really release, before he would do something he would forever regret. Rin left the dormitory and breathed a breath of fresh air, slightly calming his anger. Looking around, he knew he couldn’t go back in there at least not now, he needed to get away. It was still light out, sunset threatening to approach.

“Damn. Who pissed in your cheerios?” A voice said behind him

Looking to his right he saw the kid from his class earlier, bleached streak through his hair, piercings, and a slight scowl. Despite his scowl he didn’t actually seem like he wanted a fight, it was a more curious scowl which was understandable considering the look on Rin’s face.

“Life.” Rin replied to his peer, who he couldn’t seem to remember the name of.

Despite trying to keep his scowl, Bon let out a soft laugh. He wasn’t exactly fond of the kid before him, from the moment he walked into class he seemed to have a i’m-better-than-you air which Bon didn’t appreciate. Nonetheless, he could recognize that the kid was having a shitty day so he figured he would be nice, and maybe karma would pay him back for his kind deed.

“I got the new Battle Soldier game for xbox, wanna play?” Bon asked his natural scowl returning.

Rin had no idea what Battle Soldier was, but it couldn’t be worse than what he was doing now so with a short nod, he followed the kid to his dormitory.

“What’s your name anyways?” Rin’s peer asked

“Rin Okumura. You?” Rin said

“Ryūji Suguro.” he replied “Wait, are you related to Okumura Sensei?” Suguro asked

“He’s my twin brother.” Rin said gruffly, not seeming to want to speak of the subject any further.

Ryuji complied, and before they knew it they stood outside his room in the Boy’s Dormitory, which seemed to actually have heating, unlike the abandoned dormitory where Rin now lived. Rin stepped inside when Ryuji held open the door, looking around he saw it was a pretty standard dorm room, bunk beds, wardrobes, desks, with the addition of a T.V. couch, and coffee table. He also saw that he shared the room with two other kids from cram school. One short, bald, and with glasses, the other pink-haired and that striked Rin as a pervert as he laid on his bunk reading dirty manga. They looked up when they heard the door close, fixing Ryuji with a questioning stare when they saw Rin.

“Guys, this is Rin Okumura, he’s in our class in cram school” Suguro introduced as he walked over to seemingly the gaming and T.V. area and sat himself on a beat up couch.

“Look at our little Bon, going out and making friends” The pink haired boy laughing, jumping down from his bunk.

“I’m Konekomaru Miwa, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The bald kid said shaking Rin’s hand politely

“Haha I’m Renzo Shima! Nice to meet ‘cha!” The other yelled, shaking Rin’s hand far too enthusiastically.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Rin replied to the both of them.

“Are we gonna play or what Cheerio-Piss?” Ryuji called from the couch, egging Rin on.

Hours and several games later, everyone was beat and heading to their beds as Rin fell asleep on their couch, as it was later settled that he would stay the night.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and kudos as always. <3


	7. First Time in a Long Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin sees the old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad. It's been a month since I last updated so sorry, writers block is a bitch. Along with writers block, I've been really busy with school and family stuff, but I'll try to get back on track. Anyways this chapter is so, so, short, I'll make sure the next is longer.
> 
> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

Dazed and groggy as he pulled his ratty hoodie and koma sword on, Rin stumbled out the trio’s dorm room, away from their loud snoring. Making it outside he saw the sun was barely rising and the air was in a smoky fog. Pulling out the old flip phone, that he had yet to give back to the old man, he checked the time and figured Yukio would likely be leaving shortly. On that note he began walking back to the old dormitory.

Ten minutes later he shut the dormitory door behind him, hoping he had walked slow enough for his twin to leave. Walking into the main kitchen he saw his wishes were granted when he saw Ukobach cleaning up Yukio’s plate and coffee mug.

“Morning Ukobach.” Rin greeted the small demon.

“Good morning Rin! Breakfast is on the table.” Ukobach replied, looking up from the dishes.

Trudging over and dropping himself on table’s chair, he quickly ate his breakfast, trying to shake off his grogginess. Handing his empty dish to Ukobach, he headed straight to the showers to wash up, then headed back to his room dressing himself in some sweatpants. Searching through his wardrobe for a shirt, Rin finally found one and let out a small ‘ah ha’ and pulled it on.

Glancing at the box at the back of his closet he figured he should probably practice with his flames a bit, stepping forward to pull out the cardboard box, he was interrupted by a voice.

“Seems you’ve gotten settled in, I wasn’t sure what you’d want from your old room so I just guessed. If you need to get anything else from the monastery I’d be happy to take you, Rin.”

Stepping back and shutting his wardrobe Rin sat on his bed and pulled on some socks, shoes soon following.

“What the hell do you want old man?” Rin said, a bitter look on his face as he looked up at the Paladin.

Shiro sighed and averted his eyes.

“I’m sorry Rin.” he replied

“What, did Yukio call you and tell you?” Rin inquired, referring to what his twin learned the night before.

“Yukio? No I stopped by on my own. Tell me what?” Shiro questioned, looking back to his adopted son.

Seeing truth in the old man's’ eyes, Rin chuckled. So Yukio hadn’t told him yet, better break it to him soft, wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt ‘round here. He thought to himself.

“That you aren’t very good at keeping secrets.” Rin replied, grabbing his old jean jacket and throwing it on, along with his sword.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked, obviously confused.

“I knew about the whole exorcist thing for years, before the truth was forced to come out.” Rin replied nonchalantly, walking past the old man to get to the door.

“Knew? What do you mean you knew?” Shiro questioned, grabbing Rin’s shoulder and turning him around before he could leave the room.

“I mean, I knew that you were a Paladin and training Yukio to become an exorcist.” Rin retorted, temper itching to flare.

“And you never thought to mention anything to me?” Shiro yelled, trying to work past his shock.

“You never thought to mention anything to me? I guess father like son.” Rin replied, a scowl on his face.

Despite his anger for old man, Rin knew that the Paladin is the closest thing he would ever have to a real father. So because of that he tried to calm himself, knowing that such strong shock and anger could lead to undesirable things happening to the old man, knowing that Satan was always lurking in the shadows, ready to obtain a corporeal body. So despite his fury and despite his need to shove any care or love he held for the man into the back of his mind, Rin instead stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the Paladin in a tight hug, ignoring the heavy ache in his chest from doing so.

“Fighting’s not gonna help old man.” Rin said, his words muffled by the other’s shoulder.

Deep down Rin hoped for a minute that maybe the words were true.

Working past his initial shock at the boy’s affection, Shiro returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin atop of his head.

“I am so sorry Rin. I know you must feel betrayed by me keeping such a big secret from you, but I did it with good intentions. No matter your heritage, you are my son, and like a father would do, I foolishly kept a secret to protect you. I realise that I should of thought it through more, I should've told you the truth from the beginning, but at the time I did what I thought was best for you, and I see now that I was wrong. I made a mistake, and I hope someday you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” Shirou said the speech with a hoarse voice, feeling his regret deep down to his very bones.

Rin’s shoulders began shaking and tears began to fall from his eyes and despite his will, deep heart-wrenching sobs began to rise from his throat. This wasn't suppose to happen, this wasn't how it was suppose to go. He was suppose to not care, to be completely indifferent to the man before him, yet here he was, crying in his arms like the child he really was, and for the first time in a long time, he felt human.

What seemed like hours later, the sobbing and the tears stopped, toning down into sniveling and shudders throughout his body. Willing the shudders to stop, Rin squeezed Shiro tightly once more and pushed him away muttering something about having class as he walked out the door, wiping his slightly red face.

Shiro was in too much of a serious mood to take to much enjoyment out of the boy’s embarrassment, and sat himself on Yukio’s bed, holding his head in his hands. Letting out a heavy sigh, he shook his head. He was a real fool wasn’t he? How could he let this happen? Figuring dwelling on his regrets wasn’t going to help a thing, the Paladin instead tried to look forward, thinking of ways to fix his mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE COMMENT! Seriously anything helps and gives me inspiration to write, also if you have any constructive criticism please comment it below.


	8. The Game of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin prepares to make his next move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

After leaving the dormitory Rin ran at a pace far too fast to be human, having no particular destination in mind. His mind was in shambles. What was he doing? How could he have just cried in that man's arms like some pathetic child? _Because you are one._ He thought to himself with a scowl on his face. Maybe he was being too brash, apparently the old man did what he thought best. He was still unbelievably angry at him, but maybe he shouldn't be so harsh. _He deceived you._ He growled at the pesky thought in his head. Maybe so, but it was with what he thought was a good reason. _How do you know that's not just a lie? How do you know he's not just using you like Iblis is?_

Letting out another growl, Rin dropped himself onto the patchy grass below him, leaning against a large tree. Resting his head in his hands, he sighed and flicked away a coal tar far too close for comfort.

No one really cares do they? They're all just using him for their own selfish needs, and he lets them, because what else would he do? Iblis wants power. Mephisto wants another pawn in his game. Satan wants a corporeal body. Yukio and the old man want what? A brother? A son? A weapon? Or maybe they just don't want a they don't him at all.

More importantly what does _he_ want? Preferably to never have existed, but that obviously isn't on the table. He wants to be human. In the very boring, mundane, uninteresting sense of the word. To be normal. To not have this constant weight of hopelessness and depression on his chest. To be content with himself. To not be in the very middle of an endless war between humans and demons.

Human vs. demon, is that really even accurate? Exorcists say they fight against evil, but are all demons truly evil? There is evil in humans too. He'd seen it firsthand countless times, but somehow it's overlooked by the ones who apparently fight against evil. He has seen good in demons as well. Despite Iblis’s power hungry intentions, he's not all bad, he can be kind. Mephisto isn't all bad either, he's really just a child at heart, looking for a new game, a new toy. Even this goddamn annoying coal tar practically buzzing near his head isn't all evil. There is good and evil everywhere regardless of what you are.

The question was what was he? Good or evil?

Rin sighed once again and rubbed at his eyes, growing tired of the growing battle in his head. He should probably get back, at least for the end of class. Despite his thoughts, Rin moved to lie on his side, resting his head on his arm. Closing his eyes he figured he could rest a moment before he had to get back to the rest of the world.

A moment turned into minutes, and minutes eventually turned into hours as the young son of Satan slept soundlessly on the ground of the vast forest. As the sun began to set, soft footsteps led to the sleeping boy.

“My, my, what do we have here?” A mischievous voice called out as he looked down at the boy.

With a soft sigh the man tipped his jester’s hat and lifted the soundless boy, cradling him as he walked back the direction he came from, humming a soft tune.

* * *

 

Groaning, Rin rubbed the crust out of his eyes before opening them, feeling the soft cushion below him he immediately tensed. Eyes slightly narrowed he quickly assessed the area, only to relax when he realized he was just in the clown’s office. Then taking his time he stretched and turned over, lifting himself off of the surprisingly comfortable couch.

Glancing to his left, he saw Mephisto behind his desk, already staring.

“I see you're awake, I was starting to get worried, you never know what kind of unmentionables live in that forest.” He said with a sly grin.

“You brought me here?” Rin asked walking over to his usual seat in front of the desk, lounging himself across it.

“Of course! My kind heart wouldn't allow me to leave you so vulnerable somewhere dangerous.” The former replied, grin still very much intact.

“Just cut to the chase, what do you want from me?” Rin inquired, not having the patience to deal with the man.

Unfortunately this only seemed to further amuse the man, with a spark in his eyes, he let out a soft chuckle.

“Not in the best of moods are we? Your adoptive father stopped by my office today, he was quite worried.” Mephisto said, resting his chin on his palm.

“We had a bit of a fight, nothing for you to worry about.” Rin replied, picking at his nails.

“He told me something very interesting, that apparently you already knew of your origins and of your father and brother being an exorcist. Of course I needed confirmation on such an important bit of information.” The former said, his grin only growing.

“I thought I left you enough hints to confirm this, you're not as smart as I pegged you to be.” Rin retorted

“What game are you playing Rin?” Mephisto inquired, leaning forward, curiosity brimming in his eyes.

“The toughest of them all.” He replied simply.

“And what would that be?” he asked

“Life.” Rin said, looking Mephisto straight in the eyes.

 _Life_ , huh.” Mephisto said, visibly shocked. “What will be your next move in this game of _‘life’_?” He then asked.

“I wouldn’t want to ruin your fun. You’ll just have to wait and see.” Rin replied, getting up from the wooden chair and walking out of the office, softly shutting the door behind him without another word.

Rin knew what he had to do now, he knew what his next move would be, but first he had to make a pitstop at the dormitory, he couldn’t leave without Kurikara after all.

By the time he made it to the dormitory it was dark outside and the lights were off inside. Walking past the main kitchen he saw a white notebook paper sitting on the table. Striding to the table, he picked it up and scanned over it quickly, it read: **_Went out for mission with father, we need to talk as soon as I get back. -Yukio_**

Frowning, Rin stuffed the note in his pocket, feeling the key to the cram school at the bottom, he pulled it out and flipped it around in his hands for a moment. Finally setting it on the table and turning around, making his way to his room.

Reaching his room he flipped on the light and walked straight to his bed, where he left Kurikara earlier that day. Pulling the sword over his shoulder, he opened the doors to his wardrobe, grabbing his old backpack he began stuffing his clothes inside the small bag. Looking down at the cardboard box in the back of the closet, he pulled it towards him and glanced inside, figuring nothing would be of use, he released a small amount of flames, not leaving ashes of the box behind.

Zipping up the bag, Rin threw it over his shoulder and quickly made his way out the abandoned dormitory, heading to the south exit of True Cross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter to make up for that month of no updates. Special thanks to everyone who commented last chapter, it really helped trigger some inspiration. So once again PLEASE comment! Even just a couple of words help!


	9. South Exit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukio and Shiro go on a mission, Rin leaves True Cross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

Now was not the best time for Yukio to be on a mission but it couldn’t be helped. It was Shiemi after all, and Yukio admits he could use a distraction from the situation with Rin, it was all so stressing. So when he got a call personally from Shiemi’s mother, he agreed to help, the Paladin hearing the call also offered his help. Yukio figured he could also use the distraction considering what he told him happened with Rin earlier that day.

Making his way up the concrete steps to the Exorcist Supply Shop he turned to his father, his frown deepening upon seeing the look on his face. There wasn't an uncomfortable silence although they hadn’t spoken much on the walk here, it was more of a heavy silence, both of them too wrapped up in their thoughts to bother starting a conversation.

“What are we going to do Tou-san?” Yukio finally said.

“Well, first we should examine Shiemi’s legs and confirm what type of demon it is, though from what the shopkeeper said, It’s probably a Kin of Amaimon. Anyways it should be pretty simple to get rid of, it’s only a lower-class demon.” Shiro replied, not making eye contact with the boy.

“That’s not what I me-” Yukio started

“We’ll talk about that later Yukio, let’s just take care of this for now.” Shiro cut him off, climbing the last few stairs, and pushing open the wooden doors to the shop.

Yukio sighed and followed him in, taking in the earthy scent of the shop and looking around. Following the Paladin’s lead to the front desk where the shopkeeper was waiting.

“Ah, Fujimoto-san, Okumura-san, thank you so much for coming. I just didn’t know who else to call.” The shopkeeper said relieved upon seeing the two enter the shop.

“It’s no problem at all, we’re happy to help.” Yukio said with a smile.

“Now if you could explain in more detail what the problem is? It’s Moriyama-kun’s legs correct?” Shiro then said to the shopkeeper.

“Yes, they’re getting worse by the day, but every single doctor I’ve taken her to said they couldn’t find a thing wrong. That’s why I called you.” She replied with a sad look on her face, inhaling her cigar.

“Any demon-related incident come to mind?” Yukio asked

Blowing out smoke, the shopkeeper frowned. “It all started when my mother, Shiemi’s grandmother passed away. At first it was just it was just the gardening, she started spending all of her time out there, I figured it was just her way of coping but it got so excessive. Then her legs started giving out and now she can’t even walk but still insists on being out in that garden all day. I just don’t know what else it could be.” She finished looking the two in the eyes.

“Hm. Do you mind if we take a look at her legs?” Shiro asked

“Fine by me, she’s out back follow me.” The shopkeeper replied, turning down the narrow hallway, leading out to the back door, opening it she lead the two to Shiemi.

In the center of the garden, she sat digging a hole with a small metal shovel, grunting with each scoop of dirt. Wiping the sweat off of her forehead she looked up at the approaching figures.

“Yuki-chan? Fujimoto-san?” She said, throwing a questioning glance at her mother.

“Shiemi have Fujimoto-san and Okumura-san take a look at your legs, they’re here to help.” She said in a stern voice.

“Mom! I haven’t been infected by a demon!” Shiemi yelled back defiantly.

“It’s just a precaution. If I examine you and find nothing, then you’re none the worse off.” Yukio said with a friendly smile, crouching down in front of her.

Looking to Shirou and back to Yukio, she gave a hesitant nod, to which he lifted her ankle off the ground and pushed the skirt of her kimono up a bit. Running his thumb across one of the vein like roots that surrounded her leg, he furrowed his brows.

“It’s a root.” He said, gently dropping her leg back onto the grass.

“A root?” The shopkeeper inquired.

“It’s a tempaint, it’s the work of a demon.” Shiro informed her.

“B-but that can’t be..” Shiemi mumbled, lip quivering.

“Then you mean Shiemi’s been..” Her mother shouted worriedly.

“No. She hasn’t been possessed, this was a low-level demon that only possesses trees and plants, it likely reached her legs through the earth, it must be somewhere in this garden.” Yukio said, standing up from his crouch.

“Moriyama-chan, usually a demon finds their way to a person’s soul through conversation, can you remember ever doing that?” Shiro asked.

“I-I never spoke with any demon.” She replied quickly.

Shiro sighed. “ I know this must be stressing for you, but anything the demon said or promised is a lie, demons will manipulate you with anything they can to get what they want. If we don’t do anything then you could die, then who would be here to take care of your grandmother’s garden?” The Paladin said, giving the girl a small smile.

“It-it said it was a garden fairy, it promised to protect the garden.” Shiemi said sniffling as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“What did it look like Shiemi-chan?” Yukio asked, his face serious.

She sniffed and looked to him. “It’s a-” She started only to be cut off by a loud echoing voice.

“ _You stupid girl! You mean to break your promise?!_ ” The booming voice said. Suddenly huge roots erupted from the ground and grabbed a hold of Shiemi. Vines wrapping around each of her arms and legs like a mockery of hands, it spoke again. “ _We are going to be together forever! You are going to live in this garden until the day you die!_ ” The demon laughed crookedly as eyes opened on the large flower petals that surround her neck.

“Shiemi!” Her mother yelled and started after her and the demon, only to be held back the Paladin.

“Tou-san! She’s unconscious!” Yukio shouted to the Paladin, pulling out his pistols.

“Wait Yukio! It’s using her as a shield you can’t shoot it. Aim around to distract it and I’ll say it’s fatal verse.” Shiro shouted back then turned to the shopkeeper. “If you want her to live you need to stay back.” He said, lightly nudging her away.

“ _I am the vine;_

_you are the branches,_

_If you remain in me and I in you,_

_you will bear much fruit; apart from_ me _you can do nothing._ ” The Paladin began reciting loudly, voice growing stronger with each word.

“Damn you and your cursed words!” The demon yelled and started after the exorcist only to be held back by a silver bullet, nearly missing its roots. With a growl it turned to the offender and began running after him, only to freeze and turn back to the Paladin as the words began to weigh down on it.

  
“ _My sheep listen to my voice;_

_I know them,_

_and thy follow me,_

_I am the true vine,_

_and my father is the gardener,_

_I and my father are one._

Just as the demon finally snapped out of its stupor and began to attack, it let out a distorted scream and it’s body quickly began to crumble and dissolve in thin air, dropping Shiemi and leaving behind only dirt and broken vines.

“Shiemi!” The shopkeeper yelled and ran towards her unconscious body, dropping beside her and cradling her into her lap.

Yukio sighed in relief, she would be alright, looking towards his father he met his eyes and gave a small nod, to which the Paladin nodded back with a small smile.

After making sure that Shiemi would be alright and that there were no more lurking demons around that could cause any more trouble, the two headed out. Picking up some supplies that the shopkeeper insisted were on the house, they left without any more trouble.

Walking back down the concrete stairs, bag in hand Shiro sighed. “I..I’m not sure how to fix things with Rin.” He confessed. “He trusted me and I turned my back on that, I made you turn your back on that and I don’t know how to make it up to him.” The paladin said with a frown, looking up at the sunset.

Yukio’s eyes widened, he didn’t expect his father to willingly have a conversation about the topic. “You didn’t make me do anything. You told me your reasoning for not telling Rin and I agreed with you, I made the choice to not tell him either. I guess the best thing to do for now is to regain his trust, however long it takes.” he replied slowly, trying to think it out as rationally as possible.

Shiro glanced at the boy, pride in his eyes. “I suppose so, first things first, we’ve got to talk it out with him when we get back.” he said

Yukio hummed in reply, pulling out a key from his belt when they reached the end of the overlooking wall. Clicking the key into the door he turned and pulled the door open leading to the north entrance of true cross. Letting the man pass through he took the key and shut the door behind them.

Looking around as they began walking Shiro commented. “The South entrance is closer to the Abandoned Dormitory isn’t it?”

“You expect me to just walk in there and talk to Rin? I need time to think of what to say.” Yukio replied, an incredulous look on his face.

“Point made.” the paladin said, a stressed look on his face.

* * *

 

It was dark out by the time Rin made it to the South Exit, street lamps dimly lit up the exit’s gate and coal tars flooded the shadows.

Looking around Rin saw there was only one guard around, who was in the small booth to his right, leaning back in a chair, asleep with a half eaten sandwich on his belly. Walking to the booth and prying the door open, Rin quietly grabbed small steel bottle brought it down to the side of the guard's head, pushing him side to side to assure he wouldn't awake. Satisfied with his work left the booth and shut the door behind him. Seeing the tall metal gate was securely closed, Rin sighed and tossed his backpack over the tall gate, then hoisting himself up. Using the grooves and notches in the metal bars, he quickly climbed to the top, carefully crouching on the sharp metal at the top, he adjusted Kurikara over his shoulder and pushed off landing softly on the concrete below him. The gate rattled behind him from losing his weight and he ducked, glancing at the guard to be sure he hadn’t awakened.

Seeing him sound asleep he grabbed his backpack and stood up, walking forward, only to quickly cease his movement upon hearing the crunching of twigs. Snapping his head to the left, he saw a shadowed figure walking towards him.

“Iblis?” Rin inquired, sensing the man’s power.

Stepping into the light his face revealed a wary frown. “What are you doing out here Rin?” He asked, coming to a stop in front of the son of satan.

“I could ask you the same thing.” He replied

"I’m trying to find some sort of tear in this damn barrier, it seems Samuel was quite thorough with this one. Now, what are you doing out here?” He pried, glancing at the backpack and sword around the boy’s shoulder.

Rin sighed, seeing no point in lying. “I’m leaving.” he said

“Leaving? What do you mean you’re leaving?” Iblis questioned, voice slightly raising.

“I mean, I’m leaving.” Rin replied

“Where the hell are you going? This wasn’t a part of the plan Rin.” he asked angrily.

“Where I’m going doesn’t concern you, I’ll be back eventually.” Rin said, turning to leave.

Seeing this, Iblis stepped into his path, blocking him from going any further. He lowered his voice. “Of course it fucking concerns me, we had a plan.” he hissed, usually warm eyes turning dull as his hand reaches out and grabs him by the chin, turning his face towards him.

“The plan is still intact, there will be a few tweaks but the end run’s the same and you’ll get what you want so you can just relax.” Rin replied

“Don’t do this Rin. We had an agreement and a nice little situation going on right now, you don’t want to do this. Was it that damn king of Time? Did he do something to change your mind? I knew it was a bad idea to leave you under that bastard's care.” Iblis spoke, deathly calm as he tightened his grip on his jaw.

Looking him in the eyes, Rin shook his head out of the demon king’s grasp, taking a step back. “He doesn’t have anything to do with this. This is about me, and I didn’t change my mind, Satan is going burn and then you can have your precious little thrown. But first I need to take care of a few things so don’t fucking grab me like that.” Rin said, rubbing his thumb over his jaw.

Iblis’s eyes scanned over the boy’s form, almost calculating, then froze. “You’re not going to see _him_ are you?” he demanded, voice raising once again.

“It’s none of your business,” He replied, attempting to walk around the furious demon only to be pushed back.

“You cannot go see him! He will destroy everything I have worked towards, stop being a selfish  
fucking brat and go back to your school.” Iblis growled, coal tar flying away from him.

“I’m selfish? Says the demon using me to overthrow the devil. When the time comes, Satan will go down and you can do whatever the fuck you want so leave me alone.” He growled back

“He can’t know about this.” Iblis said

Rin chuckled. “You think he doesn’t? You think that he’s so stupid he wouldn’t figure out why you’ve been hanging around me for the past seven years? It’s not a huge secret that you’re a power hungry asshole Iblis.”

With a grunt Iblis shoved him back against the street light, wrapping his hand loosely around his throat. “Don’t do this Rin.” he said softly, eyes pleading. Grasping the material of his hoodie, he rested his forehead against Rin’s.

“Iblis..” Rin mumbled

“Why are you so intent on this? What we have right now is good isn’t it? Why are you so intent on leaving me?” he murmured back, warm breath fanning against his face. Reaching up and cupped Rin’s face in his hand.

Rin sighed and leaned into his touch. “Despite you using me like this, I still truly care for you, must be the human in me. And I know somewhere in there you must care for me too, even if it’s just a little.” Rin said softly, dragging his hand up to Iblis’s chest to rest over his heart. “Which..is why it pains me so much to do this.” he said

Just as a look of confusion passed over Iblis’s face, it contorted to pain and he quickly gasped and groaned out as he looked into Rin’s eyes. Looking down to his chest, where Rin’s hand disappeared into his cavity, he gasped out again, trying to somehow get air in his lungs and back away. Only to cry out when his heart was grasped tight, slowly squeezing.

“I hope, maybe you’ll understand why this was necessary.” Was all Rin said as he ripped his heart from his chest cavity, wrapping his arm around Iblis’s body to support him as a thick black smoke erupted from his body. The body now limp, Rin gently rested it against the pole of the lamp and looked down at the organ in his hand. Watching in a sort of sick fascination as the light pumping of blood stopped and the heart began to cool. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly dropped the organ and let it bounce lightly next to the now still body.

Trying to swallow the lump in his throat Rin glanced behind him, relieved to see the guard still sleeping soundly, unaware of what just occurred. Breathing out shakily, he shook off his bloody hand and grabbed his backpack that had previously fallen, throwing it over his shoulder he shook his head and closed his eyes, trying not to feel any regret for what he had just done.

Looking around him, he shook his head again and quickly began moving away from the scene and away from True Cross, he was gonna need to be far away from here by the time someone stumbles across that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I scanned through this once after writing it, so if you caught any mistakes please tell me. Anyways PLEASE comment, each one means a lot. I'll try to update soon. Also I put the fatal verse together from different passages from the book of john, so I hope it came together okay.


	10. Baby Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin sighed, he better head back, he’d have quite the story to tell Iblis when he got there. Though one thing lingered in the back of his mind, “It is your choice baby prince, however I’ll tell you now, Iblis is not to be trusted.”
> 
> “Iblis is not to be trusted.” it echoed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

_Rin sliced and slashed through the ghouls before him, no hesitation as he brought his sword down effectively eradicating the hordes of demons._

_It had started out as Rin wandering the empty streets far past curfew, on “patrol” as Iblis tended to call it, which is really just him looking for harmful demons to kill. “Patrol” hadn’t actually been the worst thing when he started doing it, but then again that was when Iblis would come with it and make it a game of who could kill the most demons. Now the bastard sent him on his way to “patrol” on his own, saying that he was strong enough to not need his help in driving out a couple of wimpy little demons._

_Which is how the night had been going, maybe a goblin or your occasional overzealous mushroom, nothing too odd to come to attention. That was until he came across a ghoul, which normally would not be much of a problem at all, a quick slice with the sword he borrowed from Iblis and boom, all done. But then came another, and another, and another, and before he knew it he was completely surrounded, snarling hounds and felines snapping and growling at the air surrounding them._

_Then with the clattering of the sword’s sheath hitting the ground, it had begun. Sprinting forward Rin swung his sword horizontally, taking out several canines at once, prompting the rest to howl out and pummel towards him. Not taking a seconds break he began cutting through the masses, pushing the sharp edge of his sword through the rotting flesh._

_Wincing when he felt teeth tear at the back of his shin, he kicked the dog away, quickly bringing the sword down onto its skull. Cursing, he limped back, not stopping the swinging of his sword, using it more like a bat to shove the ghouls away from him, killing them while doing so._

_Seeing the horde has hardly dwindled Rin cursed the fact that he couldn’t use his flames on them. As a way to prevent higher-level demons from knowing exactly where Satan's bastard is hiding out, he agreed not to use his blue flames on patrol since these demons will just reform in Gehenna and report to their masters. Batting off another hound trying to snap at his shin, Rin thought burning these bastards to a crisp sounded very appealing._

_What seemed like hours and several hundred ghouls later Rin was drained, his muscles ached more than ever before, he was covered in sweat and rotten_ blood, _and his ankles and shins were probably destroyed at this point. There were only so many ghouls he could kill before one or two slipped through and managed to chomp at his thigh. The pain turned into a stinging numbness for a while, but now after another hound was able to tear at his leg, the pain began to overwhelm him. Quickly glancing down he saw his torn up jeans soaked in presumably his blood, “That’s not good.” he thought out loud._

  
_Lifting his sword again, he swung with what was left of his energy, taking out at least half a dozen hounds. Looking around as he batted them away, he noticed although there was still at least a hundred left, they stopped appearing. He briefly wondered how the hell they managed to find all of these dead dogs to possess, was there some sort of dog massacre that occurred without him knowing?_

_Cutting through a persistent ghoul to his right, a sharp pain erupted from his hip. Crying out, he quickly turned and drove his sword through the demon chowing down on his side, its figure disintegrating with a yip. Eyes tearing up from the harsh burning pain, he held his side, pitifully pushing back the remaining dogs with the tip of his sword._

_‘Goddamnit I’m not gonna make it.’ he thought to himself. Looking around for some sort of escape, he saw none, ghouls surrounded him leaving no gap for him to slip through. Cursing Iblis in the back of his mind, he began to concentrate on summoning his flames. Better being found than dying._

_Just when he felt the sharp tug in his gut that was usually followed by flames the sound of howling filled the air. Dropping his sword and lifting his hand from his bleeding his side, he quickly covered his ears and snapped his head up, trying to figure out what was happening. All of the hounds surrounding him were looking up, snouts pointed towards the sky as they howled deafeningly. Suddenly black smoke erupted from their mouths, shooting up as their bodies began to disintegrate. Remaining smoke dissolving into the air, the ghouls had completely disappeared, no trace of them being there left behind._

_Bringing his hands back down, he covered his side, eyes darting around him looking for what was responsible for the ghouls being taken out._

_“Those are quite the nasty pets aren’t they?” A calm voice said behind him._

_Picking up his dropped sword Rin quickly turned around and snapped his head to the direction of the voice. Seeing a dark figure in the shadows Rin tensed, readying his sword the best he could in his injured state._

_“There’s no need for that. If I wanted you dead I would have gone ahead and let those hounds kill you.” The figure said, stepping out of the shadows of the small building and into the dim moonlight._

_Before him stood a tall, asian-looking man with shoulder length black hair and a crooked grin. The left side of his face was what struck Rin as odd. His left eye was covered by white bandages, wrapping around his forehead and disappearing into his hair, the bottom of the bandages hanging loosely of his cheek._

_Despite the man’s words Rin moved into a defensive stance, slightly hunched over towards his wound trying to slow the blood loss. To which the man chuckled softly, apparently amused by the boy’s distrust._

_“Who the hell are you?” Rin grounded out, fighting a wave of lightheadedness._

_The walked forward, stopping a safe distance in front of Rin. “What, no thank you? I did just save your ass right there kid.” he said, slipping his scarred hands into the pockets of his coat. Seeing he riled no reaction from the boy other than a glare, he sighed. “I am Azazel, The Demon King of Spirits and Air, Third Man of Power of the Royal Demon Family. You could say I am your older brother of sorts.” he replied_

_Rin froze. How the hell had he found him? He hadn’t even used his powers outside the training room with Iblis._

_As if reading his mind Azazel replied, “No need to worry, none of the other Demon Kings know your whereabouts. It’s really only a rumor that you even exist.” he said nonchalantly._

_“Then how did you find me?” Rin glared_

_“Ah. Well I didn’t quite believe you were real at first, gossip in Gehenna is never very trustworthy, but then our dear daddy confided in me - we are very close after all. Anyways how I sniffed out your exact location.. you could say it’s a power of mine, spirits and air and all that, nothing you could have done to stop it.” Azazel replied with a smirk on his face,_

_“What do you want from me?” Rin questioned, tightening his grip on his sword, trying to stay focused despite the overwhelming pain._

_Glancing down at Rin’s pained posture the amusement in his eyes grew, looking up to meet his eyes he replied. “Not much. I was just curious. Even more so when I found that The King of Fire was lurking around you. I admit I was surprised, Iblis has always been a favorite of father’s, it probably has something to do with the flames. I didn't expect him to go against father in secret, though he did it quite well, as far as I know father isn’t aware.” he rambled on. “Anyways. I want you on my side.” Azazel concluded_

_This guy really loves the sound of his own voice, doesn’t he? Rin thought to himself. “Your side? No way in hell am I siding with Satan!” he replied, pissed off at the mere thought._

_Azazel chuckled. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, however I don’t mean to side with Satan, I mean with me specifically.”_

_“You? Why would you want that?” Rin asked, confused as to what the demon would want with him, he was just a kid after all._

_“Now, now, don’t degrade yourself baby prince! You have inherited Satan’s precious blue flames, that is a big deal considering their power and the fact that no other son of Satan has been graced with them. So let’s just say that makes you unique to the rest of us. Now I have my reasons for wanting you but let’s just cut it short and say I don’t agree with father on several matters and you are the key to changing things.” Azazel replied, glancing down at the blood starting to pool around the boy._

_“I’m not on anybody's side and I won’t be on yours just because you want me to.” Rin replied stubbornly, clamping his hand down harder on his side, noticing how lightheaded he felt._

_Azazel sighed. “It is your choice baby prince, however for your benefit I’ll tell you now, Iblis is not to be trusted.” Walking forward, he stopped directly in front of Rin, less than a foot away. Ignoring warning grunt of the boy in front of him, he slowly brought his hand up and gently rested it on Rin’s shoulder. Pulling a small piece of paper from his coat pocket, he carefully tucked it into Rin’s hand gripping his sword. “If you ever change your mind, I’ll be there.” He stated_

_Lifting his hand from Rin’s shoulder, Azazel turned around and began walking away only to stop just in hearing distance. Turning his head over his shoulder, he spoke. “Watch out for that adoptive father of yours, any emotional trauma and Satan will be quick to take over his body.” With that he turned back and walked off._

_Rin shook his head, what did that mean? Was Satan trying to possess the old man? Looking down he shoved the paper_ in _his pocket and froze. The pain, the pain is gone. Quickly pulling up his hoodie he looked down at his hip, there was hardly a scratch! Dropping his hoodie back down he crouched down and pulled up his pant leg, only to see a few scratches and shallow teeth marks. What the hell? Did he..? Shaking his head Rin looked around and quickly grabbed the sword’s sheath._

_Rin sighed, he better head back, he’d have quite the story to tell Iblis when he got there. Though one thing lingered in the back of his mind, “It is your choice baby prince, however I’ll tell you now, Iblis is not to be trusted.”_

_“Iblis is not to be trusted.” it echoed._

* * *

 

_“Excuse me.”_

_“Excuse me sir”_

_“Sir!”_

Grunting Rin opened his eyes drowsily, blinking he looked around trying to focus his eyes. He fell asleep?

“Sir?” A voice said

Turning his head, he looked to the woman. “Yes?” he said

“The train has reached its destination.” The woman said.

Looking down he saw a badge, she must be an attendant. “Oh thank you for waking me.” Rin said getting up from his seat following the attendant out his booth, following her to the exit he spoke again. “Do you happen to know which way Aokigahara Forest is? Rin asked

“Aokigahara Forest? I wouldn’t go there if I were you, the forest is well known to be haunted.” The woman replied glancing at him in worry.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” he said, looking at her expectantly

She sighed. “The forest is at the northwest base of Mount Fuji, east of Shizuoka. The entrance is hard to miss.” She said hesitantly

Giving her a small smile and a thank you, he stepped off the platform.

“B-Be careful!” She called after him.

Heading east Rin pulled a piece of paper from his pocket

**_Aokigahara Forest - My kin will guide you baby prince._ **

Vague much? Rin thought irritatedly

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh Azazel has been introduced! Hope the chapter came out okay, if you notice any mistakes please inform me.
> 
> And PLEASE comment! Seriously it REALLY helps give me motivation to write!


	11. That Time of the Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Yukio find Rin missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me or follow updates on 'I'm Human' follow me on tumblr @ http://katybeefanfic.tumblr.com/

Rin was gone.

Yukio and Shiro arrived back to the Old Male’s Dormitory the previous night only to find Rin missing. Considering they did arrive late into the night they both figured he must have just gone to bed already, only to be proved wrong when they found his bed empty, no trace of being slept in that night. Which then led to them searching the dormitory, each room and crevice, only to find Rin’s key to the cram school lying on the table in the kitchen and Yukio’s note to him gone.

Knowing not much could be done considering the time, they agreed to wait to see if he would be back by morning. Only the be disappointed upon waking up and seeing he hadn’t returned.

As much as Yukio yearned to go and search the town looking for his brother, he unfortunately had school then work so he wouldn’t be able to look for Rin till later. Fortunately, Shiro had no immediate priorities so he was able to search for the boy.

Yukio sat at his desk in the cram school going over his students’ paperwork for their chosen meisters. Sighing and leaning back in his chair he glanced around the classroom. Figuring now wouldn’t be the best time for him to properly teach a lesson, he assigned a reading for the class today to which they groaned at but complied. At least at first they did, now most of them are quietly talking to each other, goofing off.

“Everyone please get back to your passages, this information will be on your test.” He called out in a stern voice.

They groaned, which seemed to be a pattern for the class, but shuffled a bit and got back to their work. Except for the hooded student Yamada, sitting in the back of the classroom he raised his hand.

“Yes?” Yukio asked upon seeing the boy's raised hand.

“What happened to that kid, Okumura? He wasn’t here yesterday either.” He asked curiously

“Oh yeah, where _did_ he go? I haven’t seen him in a few days.” Suguro added in

Yukio cursed internally. “He is on a personal leave, he should be back soon.” He replied, sorting through the paperwork.

“A personal leave? I've never heard of a student doing that so early into the year.” Yamada called out.

Looking back up to the student, Yukio narrowed his eyes. That voice sounds oddly familiar. Shaking his head he replied. “Rin is a special case. Now get back to work.”

With a grumble under his breath, Yamada returned to his book.

Yukio pulled off his glasses, gently setting them on his desk and rubbing his eyes, trying to hold back a yawn. He could only hope Rin was okay.

***

“This way..”

“Follow young prince.”

“Our King is waiting.”

Voices echoed across the vast forest, eerily calling for Rin to follow. Thick grey fog surrounded him, a small, clear pathway leading ahead of him.

Rin exhaled. He had been following the damn pathway for over an hour and had still found no sign of the spirit king, just these scary ass voices beckoning him down the path. Why the bastard would camp out in the middle of nowhere was beyond Rin, he could only hope that he found him soon.

“Come this way prince.”

“We shall guide you.”

“It is our king's will”

“I fucking get it already! You want me to follow! I am following!” Rin growled out, taking exaggerated steps down the path.

The forest went silent.

“I guess it's someone's time of the month.” One of the voices whispered loudly, its voice echoing off the trees.

Several eerie snickers and snorts followed.

_“Fuck you!”_

***  
“He is missing?”

Shiro was at wits end with his search. He had looked everywhere. After scouring True Cross Academy and the cram school he ended up searching in town, looking any place Rin might be, even checking the local bars to see if maybe he got into some trouble there. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him and everyone he asked hadn’t seen him. With little hope he headed back to the monastery wishing that he just got overwhelmed with the new school and the fighting and headed there homesick. Upon arriving none of the clergymen had seen him, once again leading to a dead end. As a last ditch effort, he drove back to the academy to see if maybe Mephisto had any idea where he could be.

Sighing and running a hand through his hair Shiro closed his eyes. _Where the hell are you Rin?_

Nodding his head he replied to the headmaster. “Yes. He’s been gone since yesterday, I haven’t seen him since we had our fight.”

Mephisto twirled his pen in one gloved hand and hid a grin with the other. _What are you up to little brother?_ “How worrisome. I have not seen the boy in days, have you looked in town?” he replied.

Shiro sighed and dropped himself on the chair across from Mephisto’s desk, holding his head in his hands, he looked up at the man. “I’ve looked everywhere, the academy, in town, I even checked back at the monastery. I just don’t know where else he could be.”

Mephisto raised his eyebrows to that. “Hmm. No sort of clues as to where he ran off to?”

Growing a thoughtful look on his face the Paladin stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a key, flipping it around in his hands. “He left his key on the table in the main kitchen, it didn’t look like an accident.” he replied, setting the key on the desk with a soft clink. “I don’t know why he would just leave it.. unless he has no plans to return.”

“I’m sure he’ll be back in no time, this is probably just a bit of teenage rebellion. I wouldn’t worry too much Fujimoto-san.” Mephisto said, picking up the small key and making it vanish with a poof of pink smoke.

“I don’t know, I guess I can only hope.” Shiro replied, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

Jumping up from his chair, Mephisto ushered the Paladin out of the room.

“Get some sleep Fujimoto-san, don't worry about Rin. I'll call in a favor with the police to put out a search for Rin.”

Reaching the door, Shiro looked up in surprise. “You'd do that?”

“Of course, of course.” Mephisto dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Can't have a rogue son of Satan running about.” he then added with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Before the paladin could reply Mephisto shut the door in his face, turning around and dusting off his hands with an accomplished smirk.

“Your move in this game of life is proving to be quite interesting, little brother.” Mephisto called out into the empty room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile since I've updated, between being busy with school, sickness, and a bit of writers block, I figured I should just post this short chapter to give you guys SOMETHING to read from this story. Anyways just a dull filler, but I'll try to get back on track ASAP. Besides that I set an estimate of 22 chapters in total for this part of the story, but then again that's just an estimate, it will likely change. Thanks for reading and feedback ALWAYS is apreaciated and really helps. <3 xx


	12. NOT AN UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DISCONTINUED

I feel really bad to discontinue this story when I know you all have been waiting for the next chapters, but I'm afraid any inspiration that I had for this fic is gone, at least for now. I have tried several times to pick this story back up and continue it, but any plot I could get out was mediocre at the very best. I've also re-read each chapter and I can now see too many flaws for me to keep writing on top of them. I'm very sorry to disappoint all of my readers but I feel continuing this as it is now would be a mistake. I will, however, try to slowly heavily edit the plot and previous chapters over my free time and maybe eventually continue it. Thank you for reading and I am sorry for the inconvenience. xx <3


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